Why we will never go camping again...

At least until the children are 10.  We packed up, prepared with warm sleeping bags, air mattress and pad, food, and we even bought a new hatchet.  Everything we would need for a mountain sleep over.  Our last experience taking the kids camping was 2 years ago when Liam was still a baby and it ended up with me sleeping in the car with Liam in his car seat.  We drove up the canyon, and because we are paying off debt, we went to the free campsites that aren't maintained by the Parks department, which also means no bathrooms.  James packed toilet paper and a shovel so we were prepared even for that. (Which Ava-Kate successfully managed like a pro)  We arrived at the campsite around two o'clock and set up camp.  After the tent was up we went on a family hike.  Which included Ava-Kate constantly worrying about bugs and me constantly worrying that I was going to step in a patch of poison ivy or poison oak.  After the hike we went back to the campsite where there was no shade and a bright hot summer sun.  So while I got dinner started, James took the hatchet and chopped down some branches large enough to hold up the tent rain tarp up to create some shade for us.  What a handy fix-it husband I have.  Dinner turned out delicious.  We cooked salmon in the dutch oven and baked sweet potatoes right on the coals.  However it took about an hour longer than expected and when the bag of charcoal says, "no lighter fluid required", bring lighter fluid.  After some playing in the dirt and s'mores, we tried to put the kids to bed which ended up them playing in the tent for another hour and a half until James and I came in to go to bed as well.  I thought the queen size air mattress would be large enough to fit James, Ava-Kate, and Liam, and I would sleep on the extra bed roll we brought.  But....that was not the case. So the children took the mattress and James and I shared the bed roll which was tight quarters and we each really only slept half on the roll and half on the ground.  Our sleeping bags were toasty and so no pajamas were required, just some underwear.  Well, we all fell asleep for a few hours and then Liam started periodically falling off the air mattress and crying. Then at around 1:45 am, he decided he had had enough.  No more sleeping bag, no more mattress, and no more sleeping.  However to do no sleeping bag surely meant death in my mind due to the plummeting temperatures of Utah's mountain nights. In a frantic effort to not disturb the campers around us I tried to sleep with Liam, but  Liam wanted to be held, not cuddled laying down- held.  In the middle of the tent, in my underwear, I desperately tried to carry and rock my baby back to sleep. By this time Ava-Kate and James were awake as well and Ava-Kate started crying that her face was cold, but refused to put it in the sleeping bag.  Liam was still whining and James hadn't slept all night.  After about an hour James said, "I think we should pack up and go home." To which I replied, "Best idea ever!" So at 2:30 am we threw everything in the car, set the world record for taking down a tent, and drove back to the valley.  3:00 am James said, "I'm hungry".  I said, "I'm starving." And we ate the best Del Taco I've ever had in my life. Tucked the kids into bed and slept until 10:00 Father's Day morning.  New plan. Day trips to hike, cook dinner, and s'more it up in the canyon, then drive home and sleep in our own beds. Never sleeping over in the woods again. And I like camping.